Magma phoenix planeswalker

Ah yes — Treasure Cruise. I bet you forgot about Treasure Cruise I sure did. Okay, so Pioneer Phoenix is a midrange deck with a Treasure Cruise engine. Why does that matter? These decks generate ever-increasing resources as the game goes longer, and are part of the reason why nickel-and-dime midrange decks like Sultai Delirium and Rakdos Pyromancer have struggled to find a foothold.

These decks present a reasonable clock, but are usually not fast enough to win on speed alone. This puts the onus on the Phoenix deck to play the aggressor, and here the cracks start to show. There is a hard cap on how much damage the Phoenix deck can deal, and how many times Arclight Phoenix can be recurred before you simply run out of deck. In these matchups, Izzet Phoenix has to resort to the same bag of tricks that other Pioneer aggro decks rely on: a reasonably fast clock paired with light disruption, usually in the form of countermagic from the sideboard.

It may not seem like much, but Zendikar Rising actually brought a number of important upgrades. Izzet Phoenix sees a huge percentage of its deck each game, so these small improvements really add up over the course of a league. First up, Riverglide Pathway. The Pathways are frankly incredible in Pioneer and they allow Izzet Phoenix to finally cut Fabled Passage without regrets.

With fewer effective basic lands, Sulfur Falls in turn becomes less reliable, so Shivan Reef steps in. I just called this a 20 land deck, but it actually works better as 19 lands plus 2 Spikefield Hazards.

Hazard is a gorgeous removal spell in Pioneer, happily picking off Elvish Mystics and Bloodsoaked Champions while occasionally sniping Teferis or even Uros. For a deck that is often just looking for any 1 mana spell to re-buy Phoenix or fuel a Treasure Cruise, stashing extra spells in your mana base feels great. You could perhaps go up to 3 Hazards, trimming a Wild Slash, but tap lands are not super attractive for a deck that likes to spend all of its mana every turn. The other major upgrade comes from the 2 slot.

On the other hand, Izzet Phoenix excels at creating small tempo windows in the early game, so you are rewarded for having high-upside proactive threats to deploy. Magmatic Channeler is the best of the bunch, because it can make a solid contribution in any board state. It goes without saying that Phoenix loves discard outlets, which Channeler provides on a body that survives red removal and swings for meaningful chunks of damage. Goblins Duel Decks: Mind vs. Might Duel Decks: Nissa vs.

Ob Nixilis Duel Decks: Phyrexia vs. Coalition Duel Decks: Sorin vs. Tibalt Duel Decks: Speed vs. Cunning Duel Decks: Venser vs. Koth Duel Decks: Zendikar vs. Language English. Material Regular. Foil Variants. Color Black. Total Casting Cost from.

Cards categorized as any of the selected types will be returned. Power from. Toughness from. Rarity Mythic. YES NO. In This Wiki Guide. The sequel to the card battle franchise, Magic: The Gathering -- Duels of the Planeswalkers includes new modes, decks and challenges.

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